N.C. State athletes keep equity conversation going through 'Pack United'
RALEIGH, N.C. -- When ABC11 first spoke with N.C. State linebacker Isaiah Moore in the wake of the first week of protests, he said he was eager to see what continuing actions would take place once the initial momentum died down.
"I think it's opened a lot of people's eyes to what some of us actually face on a daily basis," Moore said.
And I think the conversation has definitely started," he said now.
Rather than wait and see in those immediate-early days, Moore took matters into his own hands, helping form the "Pack United" initiative, a social-media and real-world school-wide effort to keep conversations about racial equity going.
"Basically, what we want to do is create kind of a system and a movement where we can have allies join us and take action and educate them in the right ways and continue to build awareness about what's going on in our country," Moore said.
For Wolfpack soccer goalkeeper Leon Krapf, it was an eye-opening experience.
"Coming from a different country, I have to admit I wasn't aware enough of how deeply rooted these problems actually are," Krapf, a native of Germany, said. "Our Pack United group helped me understand that. The next step, you have to educate yourself, and that's what I'm still trying to do currently."
Krapf is the chair of NC State's "Student Athlete Advisory Council" (SAAC). Moore is his vice-chair.
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"When you're aware of the problems and educate yourself, normally you don't really have a different choice than to take action because you see there is such an underlying injustice in that, that you just want to take action and we want to provide that platform with Pack United as well," Krapf said.
Both men said that their coaches and school administration have been fully on board from the get-go.
One immediate thrust? Voter registration challenges.
N.C. State basketball coach Kevin Keatts has been especially vocal on that front.
"My job as a head coach is to educate them outside of basketball. So, you know, if the guys leave our program and certainly, they don't know anything but just the basketball aspect of what they learned here at college then I didn't do my job as a coach" Keatts told GoPack.com.
For Moore especially, it's been heartening to see the continuing energy. The work won't stop.
"It's been great to see the kind of revelation that they've had," Moore said. "Now I understand the problem better and now I want to know how I can better help."
